Starlight
by Koka Kola Veins
Summary: On holding hands and that one time Azula said, "I love you." There is a first time for everything. Tyzula. Complete.
1. First Day

_Author's Note_ \- So, I haven't seen a Tyzula firsts story. So I'm going to claim it. I've wanted to write this for a while and I'm on break from school now so I'm doing it. They should be very short chapters around 2,000 words, and there will be seven of them, with the first half taking place in present day and the second half taking place in the past. I shift tenses to show it. It will go up to M rated for their first "time". Which is Chapter 5 right now, I think.

* * *

first day

* * *

"I think I'm going to throw up," says the small voice of a little girl named Inzai.

"Don't throw up on _me_."

"Stop being insensitive, Azula," Ty Lee snaps with flashing eyebrows.

"It's a valid request." Azula rolls her eyes. "You're going to be fine. They're all going to be nice to you because your uncle is Fire Lord. You can pretty much just do whatever you want. Skip class, cheat on─"

"Azula. Sh." A slender, floral scented finger presses against Azula's rouge lips. "You're going to be perfectly fine. I met your mother on my first day of school."

"Oh, yes, don't cheat on tests Inzai but absolutely look for your soul mate at seven years old. Ugh." Azula crosses her arms. "Alright, don't _cheat _or _lie _or bring home a boyfriend. Simple rules. Happy?"

"You think we're soul mates?" Ty Lee responds with wide, sparkling eyes.

"Just finish doing her hair. The ribbons are ridiculous, she'll hate us like Mai hates her parents. Do you want our daughter to grow up to be Mai?" and Azula leaves the room, hesitating at the door. But she walks back into the palace and simply sits and waits for the madness of the first day of school to commence.

Ty Lee glances at the red ribbons in her hands and Inzai's thick raven hair. She does not want her daughter to grow up to be Mai, so she shoves the ribbons back into the antique drawer. It makes a horrible scraping sound from age that makes Inzai squirm.

Glancing to see if Azula is watching, Ty Lee applies a swatch of pink lipstick to Inzai's lips and winks at her. Inzai looks incredibly impressed by the small amount of make-up, and significantly happier about her first day of school at the Ladies Academy.

"I think I'm ready," says Inzai, raising an eyebrow at herself in the mirror. Ty Lee nods feverishly, attempting to encourage her daughter. Finally, Inzai hops down from the old wooden stepstool Ty Lee had to force her onto, finding herself near the point of just paralyzing her to make it easier.

"Are we going?" Azula asks, legs crossed and ankle bobbing up and down in the air expectantly. Ty Lee's neck tenses; clearly she is as scared as Inzai but does not want to show it. "Okay, good we're going. This morning has been an exercise in frustration."

Azula stands up and seizes her daughter's small, slender hand. It is heated to the point of nearly bending; clearly she is frightened. Azula attempts to feel sympathy but struggles with it too much and decides to simply say nothing at all until they arrive at the school.

"As if you weren't afraid on your first day," Ty Lee says as they have to force Inzai through the gilded doors. "You were probably terrified."

"Not that I recall," lies Azula and Ty Lee rolls her eyes.

"That's a weak lie," mutters Ty Lee under her breath and Azula pretends not to hear her. They escape the hallway of the school as quickly as possible, which is made far easier by Azula grabbing Ty Lee by the arm and demanding that everyone move out of their way.

People would most likely try to talk to Ty Lee if Azula weren't so... forceful.

They stand outside, beneath the same trees that towered about them as youths and catch their breath. It was madness within these crimson walls of a school for only the rich and elite. It still maintains its pedigree despite Zuko's feeble attempts at education reform. It turns out, removing propaganda from the curriculum left it severely lacking.

Azula finds it funny. It always made her uncomfortable to be the subject of lessons. Particularly when teachers would _point _at her while talking.

It will be better for Inzai. _Probably_.

"It's going to be okay. Stop worrying, Azula," Ty Lee says shrilly and Azula promptly realizes that she is not referring to Azula, _Ty Lee _is worried and will not admit it.

Azula smirks to herself and replies, "You have nothing to worry about."

* * *

The first day of school was utterly terrifying for Ty Lee. Completely, abjectly horrifying. Staring in the mirror and trying to figure out how to make herself look more interesting frightening. She could not express in words how obscenely scared she was.

She studied herself intently for a long while. Her braid was boring. _She _was boring and she knew she would not make any friends. Well, Ty Lee found it easy to make friends when she had playdates with other children of important people, but she never was simply thrust into a situation where she would have to navigate the world without anyone to help her.

Taking a deep breath, she walked down the stairs and grabbed her bag. Her expression must have been terrified because her mother knelt down to be at her level. Ty Lee squirmed under the scrutinizing gaze of the woman who never found time for Ty Lee unless she was in trouble. Which was, unfortunately, fairly often.

"You have nothing to worry about," said mother and Ty Lee swallowed. The lump in her throat was the size of the Earth Kingdom. Her mother had _no _idea what she was talking about.

But Ty Lee took a deep attempt at a calming breath, and started walking towards the school. Her sister escorted her, grabbing her hand as if she was going to make a break for it. In fact, she probably would if she could get away with it.

Azula was not exactly _scared_. Just mildly intimidated. Of course, mildly intimidated.

"No one is going to talk to you," Zuko said with a sigh.

"I think I'm more likable than you."

"It's not about being likable. It's about the fact that everyone is terrified of grandfather so no one will talk to you. And you will probably have no friends."

"I have a friend. She'll talk to me. Mai will talk to me!"

Zuko was surprised at Azula's genuine panic. He was just being honest; he did not mean to horrify her. She looked on the verge of a pint sized panic attack so Zuko awkwardly reached forward and tried to rub her back. One eyebrow shooting up, Azula was out of the room before Zuko could figure out what exactly he was trying to do.

Her mother decided to interfere next. It was not what Azula needed on this morning of horror. She put on a brave face for days about how she would simply breeze through school and be incredibly popular and it would be beyond easy. But slowly, day by day, the dread built up inside of her, eating away at her gut and throbbing heart. Now it was pushed over the breaking point and Azula was about to scream.

"Your friend is waiting for you outside," mother said, gently handing Azula a bag she forgot to pack. Princess Azula bit her tongue about mother clearly taking credit for something she had some slave do again, and breathlessly thanked her. Words were becoming hard to force out of her mouth without them being accompanied by vomit. "It'll be fun. Don't worry."

Azula laughed. "You think I'm worried? That's hilarious. Why would I be worried about something as petty and ridiculous as _school_. Ugh. You don't have to baby me. I'm not a baby!"

Mother cringed. "I know you're not a baby..." but Azula was gone before she could continue.

Mai was waiting for Azula on the steps of the palace. She was staring intently at a pen. An ordinary, boring, expensive, gold tipped pen. Azula did not bother to ask why she was doing something so _mundane_.

"Finally. How long does it even take to do your hair?" Mai sighed, touching the ribbons in her own hair self consciously. "Let's just go."

As Azula and Mai approached the steps of the school, Azula paused. Everyone was brought by their doting parents. Azula and Mai were accompanied by soldiers garbed in royal adornments. Already, things were looking grim for their social chances.

"You're going to talk to me, right, Mai?" Azula tried to make it sound like a threat, but it came out as more of a whimper. "Right?"

"I don't think I'll have anyone else to talk to." Mai glanced around at the girls already staring at them with their lips ajar. "We're going to be outcasts for our entire lives."

"Don't talk like that," muttered Azula, although she painfully agreed with Mai.

"You want me to be optimistic about his?"

"Hmph."

"I thought so."

They found their way to the classroom on their own. Asking someone seemed like the absolute worst case scenario. It was ornately decorated yet entirely bland. The walls were lined with archaic portraits and propaganda. Azula found her way to a small desk and pillow and dragged Mai down next to her. Mai winced from the pain, but sat beside Azula with a small sigh.

"This is going to be terrible. My mother said that she hated every second of school," said Mai and Azula shrugged. She could bear it because she had spent her entire young life sitting through unbearable things. Family portraits, political occasions... Her life consisted of grinning and bearing it, and nothing else.

Zuko's prediction was true. Azula was avoided for the entirety of the day, at all costs. Mai was dragged down into the depths of instant lonerhood by her best friend.

A glance was shared after lunch. Azula made eye contact with another girl and she did not immediately look away with cheeks as red as the flags that line the walls. She simply stared back, blinked twice, and smiled.

Weird.

"I think she's approaching us," Mai murmured as class ended. Finally ended. It had drawn on for altogether too long. Azula was contemplating just burning down the classroom by the time they made it through geography. Ugh. As if she needed to know where every city in the Earth Kingdom was. "What do you want me to do?"

"Try not to be abra─hello," and suddenly Azula was all smiles and not some kind of terrifying creature sizing up their small class of young rich girls. Her golden eyes were wide, but attempting compassion in a manner that Mai found funny. It was like watching a pet trying to mimic human expressions every time Azula tried to not be cold and bitter.

"Hi. It's nice to meet you," replied the girl with the elaborate braid and messy uniform who knew no boundaries and suddenly Mai was floored by this girl walking right up to them as if it was an appropriate thing to do. "Let's be friends!"

"What?" asked Azula feebly. No one had propositioned her for friendship before. Mai was forced but she got used to it. Mai was like washing her hands. This was like... something entirely new.

"Let's be friends." The girl repeated it as if Azula simply did not hear her.

"I don't see why not?" Azula cocked an eyebrow, but suddenly her arms were linked with a girl she had yet to learn the name of, and Mai was walking a few steps behind them, completely baffled.

And that was the day they met.

Their first day of school.

* * *

the next first _is_: "First Crush"


	2. First Crush

First Crush

* * *

"You're just allergic to holding hands, aren't you?" Ty Lee remarks, raising an eyebrow. Azula shrugs, not giving a definite answer.

They are walking away from a restaurant, ready to go into the shop across the street and to the left. Inzai is in the palace asleep and they are on a date. Azula managed to terrify the waiters and Ty Lee could only giggle uncontrollably. Ty Lee reached for Azula's hand and Azula slipped her fingers away, as she _always _seems to.

"I'm not allergic to holding hands. Look," Azula says, thrusting out her arm and seizing Ty Lee's hand with a forceful grip. Ty Lee winces at first from the squeeze, but Azula loosens and walks towards the shop with their hands interlinked.

"How does this look on me?" Ty Lee asks, reaching with her free hand to hold up a necklace to her neck. She tilts her head from side to side, batting her eyelashes. Azula examines the glint of the pendant and the sparkle of her wife's eyes.

"You pull it off reasonably." Azula thinks she looks incredible, but she is not going to say that openly. Ty Lee does not need anything more going to her head.

"Only reasonably?" Ty Lee pouts her lips, returning the necklace to the owner of the shop, who has been skittering around trying to impress the duo of princesses.

"You know you're attractive. Don't be insecure; it isn't remotely sexy." Azula removes her hand from Ty Lee's and wipes her sweaty palm on her skirt. Ty Lee crosses her arms before Azula can return to their linked hands.

"I'm not insecure," Ty Lee mutters to herself, breaking free of Azula into the shop and trying on a variety of jewelry, all of which she adds to the stack rising on the countertop in the back of the store. Azula examines a ruby bracelet with relative disinterest. Jewelry was never an option for her when she was a soldier; firebending is relatively inhibited by necklaces and bracelets jingling around.

"Would you like anything, princess?" asks the shopkeeper as Ty Lee leans against the counter and waits to pay. She still looks mildly annoyed at Azula's words and Azula resists rolling her eyes. Of course this blissful date is going to end poorly.

"No. Just her." Azula sets down the dull bracelet and she and Ty Lee leave the shop.

"Do you really think I'm insecure?" Ty Lee asks as they walk towards the water. As Ty Lee reaches for Azula's hand, Azula does not respond, her fingers limp in Ty Lee's grip. _Of course_, Ty Lee thinks to herself, as frustrated as Azula now.

"I think the fact that you're asking that answers that question," Azula purrs, standing under a crackling lamp. Ty Lee can smell the oil from it mixed in with the scent of ocean. She watches the ships in the night on the indigo water.

"I'm pretty confident in your love for me. You've been in love with me _forever_," Ty Lee says with a small, devious smirk. Azula snorts derisively.

"You had a crush on _me _first. You were absolutely in love with me. You wanted to live happily ever after. You probably went to sleep every night wondering what dress you'd wear at our wedding," Azula replies airily, looking smug. Ty Lee rolls her eyes and drags Azula to a bench, settling them both down beneath the moon, stars and red paper lamps.

"Oh, but who was the one getting all jealous of any boy I looked at? And who was the one so distracted by my charm and good looks on our quest for the Avatar?" Ty Lee smirks again and Azula harrumphs.

"You were _pining _after me the entire time." Azula yawns pointedly with the hand not hooked to Ty Lee's.

"Two words." Ty Lee giggles to herself, interrupting her own sentence. Azula thinks it is a bit cute how she laughs at her own jokes. "Ember Island."

Azula's amused and smug expression fades, her lips pursed and golden eyes flashing. Ty Lee simply cocks her head to the side and blinks twice.

"It doesn't change that you absolutely were into me first." Azula leans back on the bench, sighing with a hint of royal conceit.

"And it doesn't change the fact that you came to your senses and made it mutual," Ty Lee replies with glittering eyes and a small curl of her coral pink lips.

Before Azula can continue the argument about who exactly was the wimp who fell in love hardest as youths, Ty Lee presses her lips against her wife's. Her hand slips to Azula's arm, breaking free of the hand holding she received, a treat from Azula who refuses to look romantically involved with her _wife _in public.

Azula returns with vivacity. Their tongues travel the world within each other's lips as neither of them notice the peasants and nobles alike staring at them. It probably is terrible publicity for the royal family to have them making out on a bench in the middle of Caldera.

Ty Lee's hand is halfway up Azula's shirt before they realize the fact that they're in public and break away, Azula clearing her throat with her alabaster cheeks flushed.

"You fell for me first. End of story," Azula murmurs as they stare out at the lapping, moonlit water.

Ty Lee simply sets her head on Azula's shoulder with a brief roll of her eyes.

* * *

Ty Lee was eleven when she first realized she had a crush on Azula. It was a scary prospect, but also an exciting one. She had a multitude of crushes before, and a love for everybody, boys, girls. It didn't matter. She was the romance crazy one of the quartet, while Azula could not care less about romance and Mai only had eyes for Zuko.

It was a strange feeling at first, seeing as Azula was her best friend and it was probably inappropriate to harbor feelings for her. It was also doomed, as Azula was most likely to marry someone she had never met for political reasons, and she had no interest in dating in the slightest.

"So, Azula," Ty Lee asked, lying in her blood red bed in the palace, "do you _like _anyone?"

"No. Not honestly." Azula shrugged, displacing the blankets partially. "I have more important things to think about than that. Not to mention there's no one that attractive I've encountered."

Ty Lee did not know if she should be happy or disappointed. There they were, lying close together in the middle of the night as Ty Lee realized she was falling in whatever eleven year old love meant. She had admired so many from afar. But this person was so close, so close she could feel the heat radiating from her body.

Azula was beautiful, and smart and so many things and...

"Are you listening?" Azula demanded, turning on her side. Ty Lee turned to face her and wondered briefly what it would be like if she just leaned forward and kissed her. But of course she decided against it. It seemed like a good way to get her tongue bitten off.

"I'm just falling asleep," Ty Lee lied and Azula believed her. The shadows reflected on the princess's face and Ty Lee felt a powerful guilt for having a crush on someone who did not deserve to be put on this pedestal of a tween crush.

"It wasn't that important." Azula yawned pointedly. It was unlike her to say anything she said was not important, but Ty Lee took it as providence and decided to go to sleep.

Ty Lee went to school and realized how distracted she was by Azula. She had been distracted by crushes before, scrawling names on the edges of her study guides and contemplating how to ask them out despite her young age. But Azula was different. It felt more like a vomit inducing anxiety when she looked at her and imagined if they had a future together.

_Hopeless romantic_, she had been called. _Life isn't a romance novel_, Mai had said many times, and Ty Lee wished she could just shrug off Azula like Mai shrugged off Zuko. Mai might have had trouble concealing blushes when Zuko brushed past her in the halls of the palace. But Ty Lee was in love with a girl who could only be bad news.

And so she suffered in silence until she was gone.

Azula was fourteen when she first realized she had a crush on Ty Lee. It was her first encounter with a desire for romance and she was not taking it so well. It happened as she was sitting around a fire and they were outside on their way to find Zuko or the Avatar.

The fire glittered and glimmered as Azula looked through it at Ty Lee, who was in the midst of telling a boring story. Azula looked at her lips and her eyes and thought for a moment that there was some kind of attraction. She supposed she _did _have a sexual attraction to Ty Lee, the first she had ever encountered.

But it became more than that when they were home preparing for the drill project. The Fire Nation was incredibly beautiful to Azula after she had been in the middle of the disgusting Earth Kingdom. She spent most of her days with her friends. Of course she did not admit that she missed them, but she did. It was nice to have them around.

Azula was lying in bed. And her thoughts kept wandering to things. Mostly the mission to Ba Sing Se, or things like what would happen when she brought Zuko home. If he posed a threat. If she would ever catch the Avatar after her father told her it was a distraction and she should focus on more important things than an elusive airbender.

But her thoughts would bounce away from more important business to thoughts of her friend. _Friend_, just a friend. And a boy crazy friend at that. There was no way her crush was reciprocated. And it was Azula's first. The first time she felt her veins on fire for someone.

Her veins blazed and she burned with the desire to possess what she wanted.

Azula always got what she wanted. But Ty Lee returning the feelings ─ and _how _disgusting the feelings were to Azula ─ was most unlikely. Azula wanted her more than she had wanted most things, but all she could console herself with was Ty Lee as more of a servant than a romantic interest.

Princess Azula was not destined for love. She was destined to rule the Fire Nation's empire. Ruler of the world, not a girl who could get so caught up on a ridiculous crush.

Both girls were almost fifteen when they realized that the feelings were reciprocated. After years of silence, Ty Lee saw how Azula looked at her. And she walked with her in Ba Sing Se, still in disguise.

She reached for Azula's hand and hoped it would be taken as a gesture of friendship and not romance. Not yet, at least. Azula did not slip her fingers away and Ty Lee felt a small victory.

Azula figured if she was not caked in flaking white make-up, she would have blushed at the strangely soft hands of Ty Lee. For someone who spent a lot of time cartwheeling over rough rocks, she had smooth skin. Azula's hands were hot even in the Ba Sing Se gentle chill, and Ty Lee was flushed within a few moments.

"Uh, I've been meaning to talk to you not in front of Mai," Ty Lee spit out, her heart racing. If she told Azula and Azula did not approve, she would be royally screwed, and not in the good way.

"Mhm." Azula pretended to be distracted, but in all honesty she was listening closely. But letting people know she cared about what they had to say was a loss of power. And Azula exerted power over anything within her vicinity.

"I like you. Like... more than a friend." Ty Lee was choking on her words. She expected Azula to rip away from their grasp of hands and chew Ty Lee out for being so out of her place.

But Azula paused. She chewed on her lip, disgusted by the taste of the ruby lip paint.

"You didn't show it," Azula said finally. "That's unfortunate for you."

Ty Lee's heart sank into her stomach.

It was on Ember Island when Azula retracted her cold shrug of Ty Lee's hot affection.

"I've been meaning to talk to you not in front of Mai and Zuko," Azula began as they were in their shared room for the vacation. It was three days after the bonfire and Ty Lee was brushing her hair, combing through it a thousand times.

"Mhm." Ty Lee was very attentive. She studied Azula closely, not revealing how in love with her she still was. The point was to show she was over Azula with a multitude of boys, but she thought she had made it far too obvious that it was only an attempt to make the princess jealous.

"I don't like seeing you with other people. Particularly shirtless or mostly shirtless men," Azula said, sitting down on the bed and crossing her legs.

"I'm sure you'll get someone," Ty Lee said, hoping she did not sound patronizing. "You're the most beautiful and intelligent and powerful person I've ever met. You're more of a goddess than a princess."

Azula smirked. She _did _like Ty Lee's flattery.

"I don't like it because I like you as more than a friend," Azula said and Ty Lee barely caught her hairbrush. "No promises about some kind of _romance_. But I find you very appealing."

She said it in a cold tone, but the way she looked at Ty Lee revealed that the feelings had been simmering within her.

"I like you too." Ty Lee smiled to herself.

Azula suppressed her smile.

Their first crush was also their last.

* * *

_next first _\- first kiss


	3. First Kiss

A/N: This is pure fluff but there are between the lines implications of rape. Very minute, but I figured I should warn that.

* * *

first kiss

* * *

Mai watches in disgust as Azula and Ty Lee have sunken into each other on the sofa. It is late at night and the two couples are awake, the candles dimming. As the silence in conversation grew, the girls' tongues interlinked and they tasted each other with a fervor that Mai finds completely inappropriate while she and Zuko are in the room, watching with wide and confused eyes.

"That's... I apologize for making out with Zuko all over the place," Mai declares, clutching a pillow to her chest.

She watches her two best friends making out with each other without knowing exactly what she should do. Zuko looks utterly terrified. And with _their tongues_, in public; Mai is not surprised that Zuko is put off. Well, in the palace, which is basically public. Sitting there on the sofa in absolute rapture while Mai and Zuko awkwardly sit and twiddle their thumbs.

"Yeah, I feel kind of like I'm going to throw up," Zuko assents, although he does not look away. He and his wife both have their eyes glued to the scene, unsure what they should do or if they should protest.

"Wait, I have an idea," Mai says, standing up. She seizes a scroll of paper from the coffee table, despite Zuko's brief protest that it has important information written on it, rolls it up and smashes it into Ty Lee's arm.

"Ow," whines the acrobat, jumping away from Azula as if she is on fire.

"It worked. Wow, I'm good at this," Mai says with a small smile. Azula rolls her eyes.

"She hit me. Azula, punch her," Ty Lee demands and Mai simply locks eyes with the princess. Azula shakes her head and wraps her arms around herself.

"What do you need?" demands Azula regally and Mai shrugs.

"Zuko and I were just not enjoying the show," she responds and Azula frowns.

"We can do as we please. That's one of my _few freedoms_," Azula says bitterly, wrapping one arm around Ty Lee, who is still rubbing her skin where Mai struck her. "You can't strip away my right to make out with my girlfriend."

"Fiancée," Ty Lee corrects to the discomfort of everyone in the room. Azula's proposal was two days ago, and Ty Lee's thrill, her high over it has become grating to even Princess Azula.

Mai finds them both undeniably annoying, but she tolerates it. Azula's nightmares slow when Ty Lee is here. The way their bodies cling together mends so much inside of them that has been broken. And as they are Mai's best friends, she can be frustrated by their touching, yet be glad for their relationship.

It _is _good for them.

Azula and Ty Lee slip to their bedroom, lips touching, hitting and missing on the way. Ty Lee lies down, examining Azula. She wants to fuck her but at the same time just wants to cling onto her and never let go. _Married_. Ty Lee is getting married and she is ecstatic. Azula sits on her knees on the bed and traces patterns on Ty Lee's skin with her sharp fingernails.

"Do you remember our first kiss?" Azula asks with a small laugh. Ty Lee blinks and groans. It was most unpleasant, yet the best kiss of Ty Lee's entire life.

Azula touches her lips to Ty Lee's and presses hard. She links them with the taste of saliva, and Ty Lee can taste alcohol and lipstick, a combination that should be disgusting but tastes incredibly good when it comes from locking lips with Princess Azula of the Fire Nation.

"Best tasting kiss," Azula demands Ty Lee to tell her. Ty Lee would usually be annoyed at Azula for demanding her ego to be stroked, but with the beautiful engagement ring on her peachy fingers, she is more than pleased to.

"The candy kiss," Ty Lee says with a small tease in her tone. "Definitely the candy kiss."

"What's the candy kiss?" Azula laughs, shaking her head slowly. She closes her eyes and listens to Ty Lee. The voice that once was too high, too frustrating, now soothes her. Maybe sex was the cure or maybe love; Azula will never be sure.

"When we were both eating candy on Ember Island. And your lips tasted like sugar," Ty Lee says, exaggerating her words in the most histrionic way Azula can imagine. It almost makes her laugh.

"Best kiss for you?" Ty Lee asks, touching her lips to Azula's neck. The sensitive skin tingles and Azula inhales sharply. Her longing is delayed by their discussion of petty kisses, but Azula goes slow. She will not break Ty Lee like she has been broken so many times.

"The one before the Invasion. When you told me to be careful and you just stammered like an idiot and you kissed me," Azula says, smirking at the memory. She finds it funny, even though she rarely mentions their relationship before her return from her absence after finding her mother.

Ty Lee strokes Azula's hair and realizes her longing. She kisses Azula on the lips, then on the chest, then on the breast.

And they cannot resist each other any longer.

* * *

Their first kiss was not perfect. Of course it was not. They were sitting in Azula's room, Azula leaning against the wall and studying Ty Lee intently. Ty Lee tried not to squirm under her scrutinizing gaze. They were twelve years old and Ty Lee's crush on her was becoming painfully apparent. However, it seemed that Azula still had to figure it out.

"Have you ever been kissed?" Azula asked abruptly and Ty Lee's eyelashes fluttered, her lips parted in surprise. It was not a question she expected Azula to ask. Ty Lee was not someone Azula had deep conversations with; Ty Lee only cared about boys and make-up and nothing that would interest an intellectual.

"No," Ty Lee admitted uncomfortably, squirming.

"Me either," Azula lied confidently and Ty Lee took a deep breath. Part of her wanted to scramble across the room and kiss Azula so fiercely that it would feel like fireworks and happiness and everything warm and right in the world.

They sat there for a moment, unsure if they should advance on each other.

"I bet I could get someone to kiss you," Ty Lee said, although it tore her heart into shreds. Azula smirked at the thought of an elaborate ruse. It would certainly wash away the bitter taste of what her true first kiss was.

"I'd like that," Azula said and Ty Lee inhaled hopefully. It seemed to be going well and she was absolutely thrilled.

And so their quest began. Ty Lee tried everything in her power to coerce boys, but they tended to be more interested in her. Azula stopped caring after a certain amount of time. It was impossible, absolutely _impossible_.

Finally, Ty Lee found a boy who was not too afraid of Fire Lord Ozai to be willing to kiss Azula. Ty Lee had cornered him on her own, while Azula was locked in training and Ty Lee and Mai were out on their own in town. He was in Zuko's class, although Zuko had already been banished.

"She's hot," the boy said and Mai made a scoffing noise. _Twelve year olds should not be _hot_, _in Mai's mind. Especially to a fourteen year old.

"Yes. Definitely kiss her!" Ty Lee squealed and Mai gazed at the scene in utter confusion.

"I thought you were totally in love with Azula," Mai said as Ty Lee handed the boy an invitation to Mai's birthday party and explained her plot to get Azula cornered and kissed, which Mai found rather disturbing.

"I am," Ty Lee said, a slight pain in her chirping voice. Mai squinted at Ty Lee, even more confused now.

"Then why are you trying to get guys to make out with her?" Mai asked dryly and Ty Lee shrugged with a weak smile.

Mai sighed. And Ty Lee replied, "Because she's never been kissed before. I mean, neither have I. But I'm going to do it for her because she's my best friend."

"Why don't _you _kiss her?" Mai suggested, finding it likely that the thought had never crossed Ty Lee's mind. Ty Lee rolled her eyes forcefully, tongue out.

"She would probably bite my tongue off. She's not interested in me," Ty Lee said with such earnestness that Mai was caught off guard. Ty Lee was under the impression that everything that breathed was madly in love with her, but she could not see that Azula clearly _liked _her back.

And Mai, finding it more funny if there were a comedy of errors between her two crushing best friends, decided not to inform Ty Lee of her observation.

The party was on a weekend and Azula found it suspicious that Ty Lee took such extra care with Azula's appearance. She was buzzing with an excitement that Azula did not like at all. But she did not confront Ty Lee, and simply attended Mai's party, standing in the corner with Mai as Ty Lee frolicked with the guests.

"This is terrible," Mai remarked about her own party. Azula nodded in response with a small pout on her rosy lips. They were very lush, very tempting. Mai was startled that no one had stolen a kiss before, not that Mai was lining up to do that.

"Hey," said a boy coming up to them. Mai shrunk and Azula stared him down. "Do you want to go outside?"

Azula studied him, then glanced at Ty Lee. Ty Lee winked and Azula instantly realized what was going on. The boy had shaking knees. Ty Lee kept nodding at Azula to go with him.

"Mai, tell me Ty Lee's plan," Azula ordered and the boy jumped. He looked suddenly like he wanted to vanish into thin air.

"She asked this guy to kiss you," Mai replied calmly and Azula left the room. With a small cringe, Mai apologized to the poor bloke Ty Lee likely emotionally damaged, and decided against following Azula.

With one look with her amber eyes, she insisted that Ty Lee apologize. Ty Lee sighed, tossed her arms up in the air in frustration, and took off after Azula into the depths of Mai's mansion.

"Why did you ruin it, Azula? I said I'd trick someone into kissing you," Ty Lee shouted as she finally caught up with the princess. Azula rubbed her eyes and Ty Lee was certain she had been crying, although the tears were long gone and her face was not streaked with red.

"I don't want some weird guy you flattered into making out with me. I want somebody to... You know what, it doesn't matter. It isn't as if I care," Azula said, her tone weak at first but gradually becoming regal and cold. Ty Lee felt her slipping away as Azula straightened her chin and steeled her face. Her eyes glinted with emotionless regality and Ty Lee watched sadly, her lips trembling.

"It does matter to you," Ty Lee whispered, although she had been told time and time again to never argue with the princess. And she did not, until this occasion. "You want somebody to like you. The real you. Enough to do it."

"Well, maybe," Azula said with a shrug. She leaned against the wall and tried to look as cold as possible, but her skin was flushed. Ty Lee walked to her, wringing her hands.

"I like you. The real you," Ty Lee said and Azula snorted derisively.

"Like that matters at all," Azula said with a roll of her eyes. It stabbed Ty Lee directly in the heart.

But she kissed Azula on the mouth regardless.

If she got her tongue bitten off, it would be worth it.

Azula leaned in to the kiss. And it felt right. Ty Lee felt warmth and fireworks and all that was right in the world. Azula simply did not feel used; she felt wanted and not sexually desired as an object.

It was perfect in its imperfections.

* * *

A/N: Next first is "first date"


	4. First Date

first date

* * *

"We escaped," Azula breathes, looking proud of herself.

"We did," Ty Lee assents, equally filled with pride.

"Oh, they are so very screwed," Azula says as Ty Lee grabs her hand. "I wouldn't wish Inzai's bedtime routine on my worst enemies."

"I'm sure Mai and Zuko can handle it." Ty Lee laughs and Azula loves the sheer wickedness of it. Being terrible to others is just so much more fun, and Azula wants to be terrible to others with only one person. Her wife. "I hope they cry."

"Zuko definitely will. I don't think Mai _can _cry. Her parents beat her tears out of her or something," Azula purrs with a small smile.

They are walking through the streets of Caldera, having escaped both the palace and palanquins, and now are roaming the streets enjoying the freedom. Azula has been locked up before and tightly, and she wants none of it. So for now, this breath of freedom means that she is in control of her life again.

At least enough to make Zuko's life a bit harder.

"I can't remember the last time we went on a date," Ty Lee bemoans as she stops in front of a window to examine the sparkling wares. Azula watches her with a small, amused smirk on her lips. "Oh, don't look at me like I'm some cute peasant."

"You would be a cute peasant," Azula says, trying not to laugh.

"I'm your equal now, your highness. You made me a princess, just like you."

"It's a shame I can't gift you my intellect as well," Azula replies with a satisfied smile. Ty Lee pouts and Azula ignores her. That is how it is with them. "Let's go do something interesting. Are we really going _window-shopping_. You don't think that's a bit beneath us?"

"We could do regular shopping and buy the things in the windows?" Ty Lee suggests, her eyes sparkling with excitement. Azula hesitates and then shakes her head.

"Let's get drinks. Then I'll consider standing there uncomfortably in these tinderboxes of boutiques waiting for you to make infinitely insignificant choices that are so important to you," Azula purrs and Ty Lee wishes she were better with words. Someday she dreams of snapping back such a witty retort that she leaves Azula speechless. That day will likely never come.

But they are both content with that, with each other's faults and failings that often result in arguments and tears. Because, somehow, for some reason, they manage to uphold their relationship. That feels like it should be what matters, in Ty Lee's eyes.

Azula slides one arm around the waist of her wife, and remembers when she would sit on the sidelines and see people walking like this and think only about _ownership_. And maybe she does feel ownership, but it is not as sick and twisted as she imagined, because, while it is nearly impossible to admit, Ty Lee owns her as well. Azula would have never been comfortable with that, with the way her father molded her. But when all of it broke, she put something new back together. And she likes it more than she thought she would.

"Please make them get me absurd requests. I love subjugating the peasants," Ty Lee says blithely with a genuine thrill in her voice. "Oh, and let's order really, really pricey wine that we don't even drink."

"I'll make it happen," Azula says casually. She walks through the door into the expensive restaurant and finds her way to a room in the back, giving snide, cold orders to the staff, who look already on the verge of tears, where she and her wife are perfectly alone.

Days like these make everything worth it. Or she supposes, nights like these.

Some days are harder. Most days are impossible. But some days, are blissful.

And on nights like these, the only possible answer is to force Inzai on her brother and take Ty Lee on a spontaneous date. Partially for the trouble it causes Zuko. Mostly for the pleasure it gives her.

They meet eyes and Ty Lee smiles. Azula offers a small smirk, enjoying reigning as Ice Princess romantically and Fire Princess professionally.

But Ty Lee knows Azula will melt by the end of the night.

At least once she gets her in bed.

* * *

It was one week after the unpleasantly eventful night on Ember Island. The bonfire no longer was in the hair of Zuko, Mai, Ty Lee and Azula and they no longer were thinking very much about the things they said in the cold night. And Azula was trying her best to neglect how she and Ty Lee's plan to just remain friends and find other people went horribly wrong.

Her plans _never _went poorly. Well... sometimes. But she stood firmly by the fact that it could not have been her fault.

"So, I guess the just friends thing isn't working out so well," Ty Lee said softly and Azula jumped.

"Don't sneak up on people while they're doing things." Azula hoped the snarling reply would exempt her from having to admit that Ty Lee was right.

"I'll pack for you," Ty Lee said, gesturing to the suitcase Azula had open in front of her. She was mostly punching in her clothes and damaging the luggage more than properly packing it.

Her rage was felt by everyone in Lo and Li's house, but she would not admit it. They all did what they usually did, and supported Azula's ego although it felt like the sky on their shoulders. It was somehow, despite its difficulty, much easier than the alternative.

"You can if you want to," Azula said, gesturing to the suitcase and then sitting down on the bed. Ty Lee unpacked everything and then slowly starting repacking.

Ty Lee worked silently as Azula picked sand out of her fingernails. She was picking out bits of seashell for weeks after her encounter with Zuko and her uncle. Azula liked watching other people work for her, but she had the feeling that Ty Lee had other intentions. Anyone raised in the upper crust of the Fire Nation would not offer servitude without something in return, even when they were serving royalty.

"I wanted to ask you something," Ty Lee said, sounding uncharacteristically nervous. Azula found herself surprised by it. "Do you want to go on a date with me?"

"On a what?" Azula was stunned, but she did not show it. She used everything she had learned for negotiations and controlled her facial expression. But if she were no so trained in politics, she would probably be agape.

"A date. Once we're back in the Capitol. We could go to dinner or something," Ty Lee said, growing more confident with each word. Azula felt something deep inside of her flutter, but it was not gentle dragonflies, it was moth wasps stinging her insides.

"I would tolerate that," Azula finally said, although she had the feeling that her ribs were just wrenched open by a rusty crowbar and she was somehow rearranged. If this was _romance_, well, Azula wanted none of it.

"You'd tolerate it?" Ty Lee asked with a small laugh. Azula shrugged in response; she wanted it, but she was not about to declare that she wanted it.

The room was silent for a moment before Ty Lee interrupted with, "My hair is so dry and sandy. I don't know how I'll ever wash it out."

"I'll lend you a slave or two," Azula purred and Ty Lee tried to be flattered. It did make her _gush _slightly, even though Azula spoke so _clinically _and _cold_.

Ty Lee was well aware of how much Azula wanted her when those gold eyes turned green. What else were boys for but making Azula desperately want her?

Poor boys.

The date occurred as soon as they were back in the Fire Nation. Azula had no idea how to get ready. She looked at her clothes and did not know what was appropriate. It was times like these in which she wished she were still young enough to have nannies to tell her what to do, as shameful as that was to admit to herself.

It was her father, who she asked, of all people.

"Father," Azula said, approaching him carefully. She did not know how he would take it. Ozai was a jealous man and she was his only daughter, his only... his only many things. But Zuko was home and she hoped for once that would work in her favor. "Can I talk to you?"

"Of course," he said, turning to face her and setting down his work.

She rested against the arch of the doorway to his study. It was covered in maps and relics, the sorts of things to make someone feel more powerful than they were. She entirely intended to redecorate as soon as it was hers.

"I've been asked on a date," Azula said, struggling with the words. Talking always came easily to her, but not then. She was brimming with an anxiety she could not comprehend.

"With who?" Ozai demanded, a burning flash in his eyes and Azula nearly choked on her own saliva.

"Ty Lee," she muttered.

"What?" Ozai genuinely did not hear her.

"Ty Lee!" Azula shouted before remembering herself, and quickly trying to make herself look small and nonthreatening. Her approached worked and Ozai's posture eased.

"The... girl who ran away and joined the... circus." Ozai did not bother to hide his contempt, and Azula was quickly sure that she would be grounded for until she was Fire Lord. "It's just a date?"

"I don't know what else it would be," Azula said uneasily, rubbing her neck. This was far more awkward than she intended it to be. "It's tonight."

"And I thought you were asking for my permission." He laughed a hollow laugh and Azula struggled to keep from throwing up.

She was jittery in a way that she was not when she staged a coup that conquered Ba Sing Se. But at the thought of a _date_. Now there were some things that even Princess Azula, conqueror of Ba Sing Se and great granddaughter of Fire Lord Sozin, feared.

"I don't know what I'm supposed to do. Or wear. Or say and I... want your help." Forcing the words out was getting progressively more difficult.

Ozai paused. He looked her up and down and Azula tried to hide herself.

"I'll help you," he said and her eyes flickered in surprise.

"Thank you, father," she said softly, straightening.

"I suppose I would have to do it eventually," he remarked before standing and walking with her to her bedroom.

It was almost funny, that he was the one who helped her, even when he disapproved. She always would appreciate it.

She went on the date, still jittery, still terrified, but concealing it admirably.

It went well. Azula made a waitress cry. Ty Lee forced her to eat some strange, stringy candy they were selling at the pier. And they kissed in front of everyone and Azula tried not to care. Compromises. It was not a perfect date, but it was her first.

Ty Lee brought her home and Azula made her stop at the door.

"There is no way my father won't think we're fucking if you come to my room with me," Azula laughed, still buzzing.

Ty Lee had never seen her this way before in her life. Perhaps before Ba Sing Se she was giddy. After she saw the Avatar in New Ozai City she simply glowed. But right now she seemed... happy. And that made Ty Lee happy.

"Well, then I guess I have to kiss you at the door and drop you off before your father sends the army looking for you," Ty Lee said and Azula grimaced.

"He would do that, wouldn't he? Well, I'm glad you're not scared away by my father." She rolled her eyes and Ty Lee smiled far too widely. Her face was hurting from grinning so much.

"If I was smart, I'd be scared away by _you_, not him," Ty Lee said before adding hastily, "But I'm pretty dumb, luckily for you."

Azula kissed her. There was no more to say.

* * *

A/N: Next chapter this is going up to M, because it's "first time" and includes lemons.


	5. First Time

first time

* * *

"We're finally alone together. Go us!" Ty Lee holds up her hand for a high five and Azula does not move. Ty Lee slips her hand behind her back and clears her throat.

Azula smirks, relatively proud of herself. It was entirely due to her that they even managed to be alone together. What with a child, a family, and the fact that they are currently supposed to be with Zuko at an important event, it is either a miracle or a fantastic manipulator of humans that they are together now. The latter. It is the latter.

Ty Lee asks as she locks the door and vaults over Azula's bed to draw the shades, "What did you tell Zuko?"

"It's best that you don't know," Azula purrs and Ty Lee shrugs.

"I'll just do what I usually do and say, _whatever Azula told you is the real thing look_ then distract them," Ty Lee says with a glowing, pearl white smile.

"What I say is always the real thing," Azula says confidently, a smirk sneaking onto her face. Ty Lee watches it with the glitter of a smile in her wide, dark eyes.

She touches Azula's hand and then slides their fingers together. And they move towards the bed, and they slip backwards, falling oddly gracefully. It used to be messier, and now it feels like a carefully choreographed routine to Ty Lee.

And there is nothing bad about that. Something about being with someone for a long time, and them alone, knowing exactly where to touch them. Knowing who they are and what they want and what you want from them. It's strangely beautiful.

As long as you can get away from your child long enough to actually do it.

Ty Lee kisses Azula, soft and deep, and lets some of her weight fall on top of her. Azula does not move, looking amused and slightly distant. Her toes brush against the crimson silk blankets. Ty Lee feathers her fingers across Azula's chest, tracing her breasts and barely touching her nipples.

"You're so beautiful," Ty Lee whispers and Azula opens her mouth and then closes it. Ty Lee is certain she was going to say, 'I know.'

Ty Lee starts with her fingers, just barely touching Azula's thighs, the creases at her hips, her navel. She kisses her soft, slow, moving against her, agonizingly tender. Her hands move, sliding up Azula's skirt with the side of her hand.

It is bliss for a few hours.

Ty Lee is reminded, as they lie intertwined, Azula's head resting on her chest, of how they would sneak around when they were younger. Agni, how they would sneak around when they were adults and Ty Lee could not reveal to the Kyoshi Warriors that she was involved with Princess Azula.

Now they can do as they please. Now they might as well have declared it from rooftops. But it used to be a secret.

Ever since the first time.

* * *

"This can't happen," Azula said, knowing they were the right words, and she spoke them as cold as she could.

The moon was wide awake and Azula burned like the sun in the night. She was in her room with Ty Lee. They had just come home from Ember Island and Ty Lee crept inside. She had no other words except for desire and love. Mai and Zuko were off somewhere fucking and that was exactly what both Azula and Ty Lee wanted to do.

But Azula could not let that happen, even though her sleep existed solely of wet dreams since she stole Ty Lee from the circus.

"But you want it to. You're Princess Azula, you do what you want," Ty Lee said sharply and Azula swallowed. Her mouth felt so dry and her insides felt that they wanted to be wet.

"But I can't do this. My father is three rooms away from us, and this is ridiculous and maybe after... maybe after the Comet or something we can do this but I can't risk my political career for some dirty thoughts about my friend," Azula snapped and Ty Lee chewed on her lip for a moment.

"It's not just dirty thoughts. Azula, we want to be together," Ty Lee said and Azula had never heard her speak so passionately about anything but make-up. And she had never heard her stand up to Azula or disagree with the princess for a split second.

"I know that. Of course I know that. But I'm too..."

"Too good for me," Ty Lee murmured, rubbing her neck. She blushed the shade of her aura.

"I'm too occupied with this war. And with my throne," Azula said and Ty Lee breathed in slowly.

"Well, I've been devoting myself to your dreams nonstop for months. And I would do anything for you to be happy. But sometimes, sometimes I want to be happy, I guess," Ty Lee said and it had never occurred to Azula that Ty Lee could ever be unhappy.

"I..." Azula had no words and it frustrated her. She should have prepared some kind of speech for this inevitable moment where they both wanted to fuck but Azula knew they could not.

Ty Lee decided to take a risk. A risk that could get her killed, but she did not care about.

Ty Lee kissed Azula tenderly, sweetly, unexpected. Ty Lee was aware that if the kiss was not received well, she would probably be struck by lightning, but she believed that Azula wanted it as much as she wanted it.

They knew they should not by all means, but Azula could not help it. It was a thousand times better than their first kiss. And it was, by far, the best kiss of Azula's life. For a split second, Azula twitched her fingers and planned to push Ty Lee away and stop from getting involved. But she relaxed into her against her better judgment.

Azula sunk her teeth into Ty Lee's lower lip. A soft tongue, gentle, teasing circles in response to the bite.

With that kiss, Azula was transformed. Ty Lee awakened a part of her that had waited so patiently, waiting to be Fire Lord so she could do this instead of bending to her father. The passion in Ty Lee's lips was genuine as she breathed warmth, flame, renewal, burning clean like a wildfire into Azula's soul. To describe the aching in the princess's thighs would belittle the magnitude of Azula's sensations.

No one would ever touch her again but this girl, Azula decided, even though that was impossible to control.

Ty Lee stepped backwards to the bed. Azula followed, slipping on top of her as Ty Lee laid down. Azula wondered if she had done this before, because Azula certainly had not. It had been done to her, but... she had never done it _with _someone.

As Azula kissed her neck with hesitant lips, she heard her breathing speed up; her curves, soft and full beneath Azula's trembling fingers were a reminder of this forbidden love. Azula's mouth moved slowly down her body, exploring, unsure what she was supposed to do as their bodies came alive with cravings. Her moans were soft, a whisper, trying to keep the secret and unsure what compelled her to make such involuntary sounds.

Azula lingered on her hips, feeling them rise to her, wanting her, wanting more. In her mind, the teasing was relentless, taunting Ty Lee, torturing Azula. Azula pulled the inside of her thigh to her lips, her leg bent at the knee. She moaned, louder this time. She wanted Azula, needed her, called for her.

They could not be together. They could never be together, regardless of how they dominated each other's fantasies. Their minds were invaded and they were helpless to forget, even when they knew exactly what Ozai would do to them if he knew his daughter was sneaking around, fucking someone she was forbidden to be with.

The new sensations were overwhelming and Azula felt as if she barely knew what to do. Ty Lee had seized her, taking control and Azula realized that she was not the first. That bothered her until Ty Lee's tongue found her clit. Azula could not bring herself out of the dream world of pretending this romance was sustainable long enough to figure out the moans escaping her lips.

They should have been quieter. Agni, they should have been.

Time seemed to flow strangely slowly. Ty Lee moved up and Azula felt her first orgasm which was baffling and made no sense to someone who only understood war and strategy and plays for power. Not the playing of fingertips. She was not sure whose mouth was on whose at the time.

The more Azula drank, the more she craved. And the cries that burst from her throat held years of yearning and frustration.

They did not know what they were doing, and Azula was always a girl who had a plan. But not tonight, not tonight.

She pressed her hand between Ty Lee's thighs and slid her fingers rhythmically inside of her.

Relentless, relentless.

In the morning, they were numb.

Azula could not feel anything, because she knew it would not be allowed to last, despite the way her body purred.

Sweet dreams were woven of this.

* * *

A/N: Next first - "first I love you"


	6. First I Love You

first 'I love you'

* * *

Azula and Ty Lee lie in bed after an absurdly long day. Sleep does not come easily; it never does. Ty Lee watches Azula in the climbing shadows as the bluish glow of the moon reflects on her pale back. She feels a slight chill on her arms and she wishes she had warmer blankets.

"Why are you staring at me?" Azula asks, without stirring.

"Because I love you," Ty Lee says quietly in the night. Azula looks at her, her eyes slightly narrowed. "Why do you always look at me like I'm lying to you?"

"Maybe you are," Azula replies defensively with a shrug. Ty Lee furrows her brow, unsure what to make of it. "I don't believe that kind of thing at face value."

"Well I mean it and if you don't believe me, your loss," Ty Lee says confidently, taking Azula's hand in hers. Azula smiles faintly at the warm touch beneath their blankets.

"Why do you love me?" Azula asks, no, demands. Ty Lee does not quite know how to respond to that. She has put a lot of thought into why she loves Azula, and she always manages to come up short.

"I don't really have a reason," Ty Lee admits as she shrugs. Azula looks wounded for a split second and it makes Ty Lee's heart ache.

"You have to have a reason. I know why I love you or I wouldn't love you," Azula says coolly and Ty Lee chews on her lower lip. Tonight has just gotten significantly more difficult.

"Alright, fine, why do you love me?" Ty Lee demands and Azula rubs her toes against the soft blankets. Her chin is tilted slightly towards the moon as she seems to be mulling it over. "So you don't know?"

"No... I..." Azula's cheeks flush light pink. "I don't really have the list on me."

"You _don't have the list on you_?" Ty Lee laughs, unsure what else she is supposed to say to that. Azula shrugs and shakes her head. "So you don't know either."

"Honestly I find it inexplicable," Azula says, sighing and pulling the blankets further over her slim body.

"It really is, isn't it?" Ty Lee is laughing again and Azula does not know why. Their inability to voice why they love each other should be _concerning_, not funny.

"Maybe we should break up or divorce or..." Azula looks slightly panicked and Ty Lee tries not to laugh even harder.

"Azula, you don't need a list of detailed reasons to _love _somebody," Ty Lee says, rolling her eyes. But the princess still seems to have no idea. "You're not so good at the spontaneous emotions, are you?"

"I'm not good at any emotions," Azula admits with a soft, delicate sigh. She studies Ty Lee for a moment and the acrobat can tell that she is still trying to think of reasons she loves her.

"I love you because I love you. And because I'm incredibly stupid and masochistic. I never laid out a lists of pros and cons. I just _did it_," Ty Lee says gleefully, as if such shortsighted behavior is commendable.

"I have no idea what's wrong with you," Azula says, shaking her head. Ty Lee smiles and closes her eyes.

She then slinks across the bed and nestles against Azula like a kitten.

It is pure and utter madness, loving for no reason.

But Azula does.

* * *

Ty Lee has wanted Azula to tell her she loved her for what feels like eons. She _knew _that Azula loved her and that the princess simply refused to say the words. And therefore, Ty Lee figured the only way to get it out of Azula was to trick her.

She sat down beside Azula and crossed her legs. They were back from Ember Island and their relationship was finally kindled. The horrible vacation was over, they had gone on a date together, they had slept together, and now, so help her, Ty Lee was going to hear Azula say, 'I love you' if it _killed _her.

"Let's talk about things we like," Ty Lee said brightly and Azula stared at her blankly. "Go on. Uh, I'll start."

"Please don't," Azula said coolly and Ty Lee gave a smile in offer of goodwill. But Azula did not budge. "So help me I am not in the mood for your optimism."

"Alright, what do _you _like, princess?" Ty Lee asked, not willing to give up so easily. Azula picked at her sharp, shining nails. "Please?"

"I like," Azula said before a small, deliberate pause. "Being left alone. Unless you want to make out with me or something."

Ty Lee bit back her snide response and smiled warmly. Okay... making out with Azula did not sound _awful_.

"I like you," Ty Lee said, attempting to nudge the conversation back into the direction she wanted it to go in.

"I'm well aware," Azula replied coldly and Ty Lee clenched her jaw. She did not know why Azula had to make it so _impossible_. "You go do whatever things you do. I have more important objectives."

"Azula," Ty Lee whined with her brow knit. Azula paused, clasped her hands on her lap and tilted her head to the side. Ugh. It was the most insulting pretend listening face Ty Lee had ever seen. "Azula, tell me what you like."

"Firebending." Azula got up at that and walked away.

Ty Lee kicked the sofa and then cursed at the pain in her toe. Ugh.

She had to find some other way to trick Azula into admitting she loved her. And as the day faded into night, Ty Lee had a brilliant idea. But she needed help, and so she enlisted Mai and Zuko.

"This is ridiculous and dangerous and stupid. Did I say ridiculous?" Mai sighed, looking even more unenthused than usual, if such a thing were possible.

"I want Azula to proclaim her undying love for me!" Ty Lee screeched and Zuko flinched. "The only way it will happen is if I pretend to be kidnapped!"

"Maybe you could just ask her if she loves you," Zuko suggested and Mai and Ty Lee both laughed. "I wasn't joking. Straightforward is always better."

"Not with Azula!" Ty Lee snapped viciously and he shut his mouth. He did not want to poke this sleeping dragon. "Okay, we all know what we're doing?"

"Yes," Mai sighed before they both looked at Zuko. He paused for a moment before nodding.

Zuko was well aware that this was a _terrible _idea, but he supposed he had no choice but to play along. And play along he did.

"And, Mai, don't let Zuko talk," Ty Lee said sharply, pointing an accusatory finger at Mai. Mai nodded once and turned to her boyfriend. He nodded in agreement; he had no desire to be involved in this in the first place.

Azula was training in the courtyard when Mai and Zuko found her. Mai suddenly was in very passionate character, to Zuko's utter shock, and she grabbed Azula by the arm, nearly burning to death in the process.

"What? What is so important that you─"

"We need to rescue Ty Lee," Mai said in a convincing panic. Zuko wondered if he could trust her at this point; her lying skills were impressive.

"From what? She can't save herself?" was Azula's response and Zuko tried not to cringe. "Did you go to the police?"

"Yes, and apparently it's not a missing person case unless they've been gone for two days," Mai said, shaking Azula viciously. "Come on. Be a hero. Be her hero. Rescue her from the kidnappers. Sexy, sexy."

"She's not really kidnapped, is she?" Azula asked, crossing her arms.

"No," Mai said and Zuko decided he could trust her again. "But you should pretend rescue her."

"This is ridiculous. We're adults and she wants to play some elaborate game of pretend?" Azula looked haughty, furious and disgusted. Zuko figured this was not going to go very well. "Why would she stage a kidnapping anyway?"

"To get your attention," Mai said and Azula took a deep breath.

"Well, I am flattered. Such an absurd gesture, I mean, I might as well," Azula replied, turning up a palm. Mai nodded.

And so Azula rushed to Ty Lee's rescue. And found her tied to a chair, which was impressive. Azula tried not to sigh or roll her eyes, and with a single blue flame, liberated the bonds.

"So, where are the kidnappers so I can kill them in bloody revenge?" Azula purred, cocking an eyebrow. Ty Lee grimaced.

"Were you afraid I'd die and you'd lose me forever?" Ty Lee asked, ignoring the question altogether.

"Not really," Azula said, smirking. Ty Lee frowned, looking genuinely wounded. Azula kissed her on the lips. "I do approve of elaborate ruses and tricks to get people to do what you want, but I'm still not saying it."

"How did you know? Mai told you!"

"I found it a little hard to believe that you were taken down by _kidnappers_. I've seen you in combat," Azula said and Ty Lee kicked the ground. "Better luck next time." Another kiss that Ty Lee tried to resist but could not help but return.

Ty Lee continued trying to entrap Azula, and continued failing. It was evident that the princess had her outsmarted, and it took up until the night before the Invasion. Everything was tense within the palace, and Ty Lee was lingering in Azula's room, the princess having kept her to keep her mind off of the next day.

"I'm kind of scared," Ty Lee said and Azula squinted at each other. She had been distracting Azula with vapid and dull conversation for an hour, and then she suddenly looked so dark.

"Why? We're ten steps ahead of them. And no one has succeeded at invading the Fire Nation, even with powerful armies, which, they don't have," Azula said softly, taking Ty Lee's hand in hers and playing with her fingers gently. "It's going to be fun, if anything."

"No, I'm scared of what's going to happen when the war is over," Ty Lee said and Azula's eyes flickered. She did not think Ty Lee was capable of thinking that far ahead.

"You mean after the comet? Because the war is pretty much over. Nothing in the Earth Kingdom is unconquered. Ba Sing Se is ours," Azula said, trying to divert away from what she knew Ty Lee was leading into.

"Are you playing with me?" Ty Lee whispered and Azula hated the shift in conversation. She liked her acrobat bubbly and impenetrably positive, as sickening as those qualities could be.

"I..." Azula did not know what to say. She took Ty Lee's hand in hers, examining it. She set it on her breast for a moment and Ty Lee pulled her hand away. Azula's hand twitched to slap her but she restrained herself. "I want to be with you, okay? I do. Are you satisfied?"

"No. Tell me you love me or tell me you'd be lying if you said so," Ty Lee said viciously and Azula had no idea she had pushed her to such a breaking point. It seemed like a fun little game, the romance, the sex... Azula did not imagine it could cause such... torment.

"I love you," Azula said with purpose. "And I'm not lying."

Ty Lee smiled faintly.

Well, if Azula died tomorrow during the Invasion, she would have one less loose end.

That was something to console herself with. And something else was lips against her bare skin and fingers moving up her body and swirling along the insides of her thighs.

* * *

A/N: next (and last) first - 'first steps'


	7. First Steps

**A/N: **Here it is: the last one. I wish this could go on longer but this is all I planned, and I'm working on another Tyzula story that I want to update more frequently, and I have limited writing time.

* * *

'first steps'

* * *

"She wants to walk," Azula declares and no one fully understands. "She's crying all the time because she wants to be independent."

It startles everyone around her. Usually Azula is not incredibly observant when it comes to Inzai. She is clueless maternally, and no one blames her because she did not exactly have a mother, and she chased away all of her nannies.

Currently, Azula, Ty Lee, Mai, Zuko and little Izumi are in an ornate living room. Ty Lee is trying to deal with her fussy daughter, who is clinging to things and crying, tearing at them. Azula watches from afar, of course not getting involved with her daughter.

Zuko raises an eyebrow and examines Azula. "You think so?"

"I do. Let me try," Azula says, her heart beating into her throat. She can feel her quickened pulse reverberating through her body. Her daughter worries her constantly; she is always afraid of doing the wrong thing like her mother did.

If Inzai resented her, she does not know what she would do. And so Azula walks forward slowly and kneels beside her daughter. Inzai stops crying for a moment and sniffs in, looking at Azula closely with her big golden eyes. Saliva drips from her slightly parted rosy lips and Azula tries not to be disgusted.

"Do you want to walk?" Azula asks and Izumi nods. She is only a few months old, and Zuko and Mai highly doubt that Inzai is going to be able to walk this early. But she is bright, like Izumi was, and Izumi was always well ahead of her age.

"Mhmm," is the unintelligible sound Inzai makes. Azula is unsure if she fully understands her mother, but Azula takes her gently by the hand.

"All of you stop staring!" Azula snaps and Inzai looks frightened for a moment. Zuko and Ty Lee avert their eyes, but Mai keeps watching. Azula cannot tell her what to do anymore.

Azula feels genuinely afraid, but she does not show it. She tries to look as though this is not a big deal to her in the slightest as she takes Inzai's damp fingers and slowly stands, making sure not to strain her daughter. Ty Lee already has tears in her eyes just looking at Azula being involved with the little girl she gave birth to.

Those first steps mean the most and Zuko pretends not to be watching, for fear of sabotaging it. He engrosses himself in Izumi's puzzle that she is solving with a preternatural expertise. Mai, however, is sucked into the scene.

Ty Lee waits with bated breath as Azula murmurs something to Inzai and readjusts her grip, hoping she will not send her daughter toppling over. She could die that way and Azula would have killed her own child and now Azula is in a panic, but she sees the others and takes a deep breath. She _refuses _to look flustered in front of these people.

Inzai clings to Azula's waist when Azula starts moving. Nobody ever taught her how to teach her child to walk, nor did she ever care. It always seemed like something Ty Lee would wind up doing. Like everything in their daughter's life.

From the moments that Inzai moving inside of Azula sent her into panic attacks, Azula was well aware she would be a feeble parent, and so she never has taken chances like this.

But Inzai does it. Clinging to Azula of all people, she takes her first steps and is obscenely excited, bouncing from foot to foot before Azula has to catch her, as she is about to fall.

Ty Lee hugs Inzai in her arms and Mai taunts, "Aww. Family moment. How cute."

"You shut up!" Azula snaps and Mai shakes her head, smirking ever so slightly.

"Our daughter can walk," Ty Lee squeals, brimming with even more excitement than Inzai. And within Azula, there is that small excitement like a supernova building and bursting in her chest.

But she plays coy, kneels beside Inzai and says, "Next, firebending."

Ty Lee rolls her eyes as Inzai _certainly _understands that.

* * *

Ty Lee could not believe what was happening. It was almost impossible to fathom that she was minutes away from marrying Princess Azula, the only person she had ever truly loved. It had been years of losing and regaining Azula like the motions of the ocean beneath the moon.

She was made up like a beauty queen and she loved it. Looking into the mirror, she felt special, different, unique and destined for great things. Everyone always told her that she would be mediocre, that it would be best for her to fit into the crowd. And strangely, the girl who liked to smash people into their place, made her feel like she was important.

And then, after so many years of mediocrity, she was about to become a princess. She was also about to choose Azula to be her first, her last and her everything. Those steps down the aisle would be her first steps towards a new life and a new world. One that she had desperately craved since her childhood.

Mai came up behind her. She was already dressed for the wedding, and of course in the grimmest of colors in contrast to the summer reds and pinks, as well as the green and blue of the visiting guests.

"You look ready for a funeral," Ty Lee complained and Mai just shrugged. "I can't believe Azula snatched you up. She has enough control to run a coup in Ba Sing Se but not enough to get you a decent dress."

"I worked her," Mai replied with a small smile. It quickly faded, of course. "Well, your dear bridesmaids look like a little matched set. The ribbons are even identically tied. You amaze me at your meticulousness. I'm pretty sure Azula doesn't even know what day it is."

"Is she nearly ready?" Ty Lee exclaimed and Mai just shrugged. "Well, check on her. She's _your _job. I'm Suki's. And she is doing a way better job."

"Shush," Mai sighed with a roll of her eyes, and she was on her way to go locate Azula.

The princess was in even more disarray than Ty Lee, which was a stunning accomplishment. They both were an absolute mess, which Mai supposed was understandable. But Azula was eyeing the window as if she was about to climb out of it and start running.

"Cold feet?" Mai inquired with a small smile. Azula glared at her in response. "There's nothing to be afraid of. You're just signing your soul over for eternity to _Ty Lee_."

"You shut up!" Azula snapped and Mai shrugged. Mai realized she should probably be kinder about this wedding, but she found it altogether ridiculous to a large extent.

"Tell me why you're worried," Mai said, studying Azula closely.

Azula responded by taking two deep breaths and then teetering slightly on her feet. "Why am I doing this? Mai, why am I doing this?"

"Because you're crazy," Mai replied and Azula rolled her eyes. "I know, I know. I'm not being helpful. Clearly something snapped in your brain that made you want to marry her. Less helpful? Let me try again. You two have been gradually taking little steps towards this for a really long time. Since you were kids. I say, give in, because I think there's no stopping at this point. You've walked all the way up to the little ledge. Now grab her and jump."

"That was... strangely inspirational," Azula replied coldly and Mai shrugged.

"I am a woman of many surprises," Mai replied with a small wink.

Azula just shook her head. "You are not always a terrible friend."

"You aren't always a terrible friend either. But if you run and leave her at the altar I will be forced to hunt you down and peel your skin off like an orange," Mai said and Azula raised an eyebrow.

"I will keep that in mind." Azula stumbled on her shoes and Mai caught her. "I feel ridiculous."

"You look pretty ridiculous," Mai replied before shaking her head. "No, you look good. Now go out there and sell yourself to Ty Lee for eternity."

"If you insist, Fire Lady Mai." And Azula turned away.

Ty Lee took those first steps, as their relationship had moved step by step. Azula still looked grey and vaguely hypothermic, but she did not have the look of desperation for escape anymore. She gazed at Ty Lee, going through in her mind how she got to this point.

But she was not unhappy about getting here. Each step felt right.

And Ty Lee ran out of space to walk as she was nearly toe to toe with Azula.

The acrobat winked at the princess before the ceremony began.

Azula touched her wrist, and they took their first step into forever.

_**FIN**_


End file.
